February 06

Karl Sapper was born in 1866 in Mainz, Germany, and earned degrees in geology and geography. He worked as a mining engineer in Guatemala, conducting pioneering surveys of volcanoes and Mayan ruins. Sapper documented indigenous languages and cultural practices in detailed ethnographic studies. He later became a professor at the University of Tübingen, teaching geography and regional studies. He died in 1945, leaving a comprehensive legacy of exploration and scholarship on Central America.

Yury Onufriyenko is a Ukrainian-Russian Air Force colonel and veteran cosmonaut. Born in Sumy Oblast in 1961, he graduated from Kharkov Air Force University and served as a flight engineer in the Soviet and Russian Air Forces. Selected as a cosmonaut in 1992, he flew his first mission aboard Soyuz TM-15 to the Mir space station in 1994. He later flew on Soyuz TMA-9 in 2006 as part of International Space Station Expedition 14, serving as a flight engineer and commander. Onufriyenko logged over 500 days in space and conducted multiple extravehicular activities. He was awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation for his contributions to space exploration.